>> eric: by the way, happy new year. you can watch tomorrow night, starting at 11:00 p.m. eastern. the big event, live from times square. >> heather: the big party. the news continues now with broom bream in washington right now. >> the biggest priority is making sure that we deal with

the debt in a serious way. but the way they for behaving, their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest americans are protected. >> this deal won't affect the debt situation. it will be a political victory for the president. i hope we will have the courage of our convictions when it comes time to raise the debt ceiling to fight for what we believe as republicans. but hats off to the president. he won. >> south carolina senator lindsay graham and president obama -- the state of our fragile economy. president obama made his final argument, placing the blame squarely on congress, specifically, house republicans, mr. obama is cautiously opt mifertic that lawmakers will reach a watered-down deal, but no mention of debt, tax reform or entitlements. i'm shannon bream. the senate will convene in an hour. we have team coverage on capitol hill and at the white house. we start with mike, live on capitol hill. what's the latest on

republicans? and how are they reacting to the comments we heard from the president? >> reporter: good afternoon. the critical comments from president obama in a critical stage in these negotiations, certainly seem to hit a nerve. a spokesman for senator mitch mcconnell says while the president was tapingly those remark, senator mcconnell was trying to bring republicans and democrats together on a solution. the spokesman notes, discussions continue. if senator mcconnell and harry reid can reach a deal in the next couple of hours, leading senate republican notes there is no guarantee it will pass both the house and the senate. >> if mcconnell can't get 60% of us to vote for this deal, it will be hard for boehner to get it through the house. i want to vote for it even though i won't like it because the country has a lot at stake. >> among the republican krengs any revenue generated by a potential deal, they would like to see it come do paying down

the deficit, not new government spending. shannon? >> how confident are the "cook's essentialsal" democrats about the ability to get this done? >> reporter: congressional democrats do not sound over confident. they recognize this is a heavy lift between the top two senators in the next couple of hours. but a leading new york democrat sounded cautiously optimistic. >> there is certainly no breakthroughs yet between senator mcconnell and senator reid. but there is a real possibility of a deal. i have been a legislator for 37 years. and i have watched how these things work. they almost always happen at the last minute. >> reporter: we are getting down to the left minute. the threshold for extending the bush tax cuts. president obama campaigned campn capping it at $250,000, raising taxes on those who earn more than $250k, but some of the discussion and it is buzz around capitol hill has been about perhaps going to the $400,000

mark. the question is, will you get enough republicans to buy in if that is the deal? shannon? >> thanks to mike on capitol hill. we will continue to check in. now to ed henry, continuing our live team coverage from the white house. good afternoon, ed. >> reporter: good to see you, this is the president going out and trying to frame this debate on his own terms, appearing on a sunday talk show for the first time since 2009, when he was pushing health care reform, now, obviously trying to sell a fiscal cliff deerl deal. he went on nbc's "meet the press," again and again, he hammered the message, trying to put the blame on republicans for the fact we are up against this tight deadline. the president made clear that if republicans in the next 48 hours do not come up with a counter proposal to get us through this crisis, he wants an up-or-down vote on his short-term plan to extend unemployment for 2 million people and extax cuts

for those making $250,000 or less. >> not because democrats in congress don't want to go ahead and cooperate but because i think it's been very hard for speaker bainer and republican leader mcconnell to accept the fact taxes on the wealthiest americans should go up a little bit, as part of an overall deficit reduction package. if folks can't say yes to good offers, then i also have an obgigs to the american people to make sure that the entire burden of deficit reduction doesn't fall on seniors, who are relying on medicare. >> reporter: the president focusing his comments on the tax side of this so-called fiscal cliff. but as mike so aptly pointed out, there is the sequester, the massive spending cuts that would largely target the defense department. those are coming due as well at the beginning of the year. senator lindsay graham was on fox news sunday and told chris wallace, he got a call from the defense secretary, leon panetta,

who said, even if there is a deal on the hitt hill to deal with the tax side of all of this, secretary panetta does not think there will be a deal to stop the massive defense is cuts. lindsay graham and others saying they are deeply concerned, whether there is a deal or not on the tax side, there could be a massive hit on the pentagon budget and what that means for our national defense. big deal. >> absolutely. thanks. joining us for a closer look at the fiscal cliff negotiations, ron johnson, a member of the appropriations and budget committees in the senate. thank you for taking a break from a busy time to visit with us. >> thank you. >> i want to get a response from the comments to the president. he said that g.o.p. can't take yes for an answer. is there an offer that would have been acceptable to the house or the senate g.o.p.? >> not that i am aware. people throw the numbers around, like there is a deal, $1 revenue for $3 spending cuts, i have never seen those deals.

senator harry reid should have made sure the senate passed a budget, sometime in the past 3 years and that would be reconciled with the house and you would have a framework, you know, a budget resolution that the committee -- the appropriations committee, the house ways & means committee, senate finance committee, they would have the instructions to work on the difficult problems npublic. have a public debate. we are down now to the 59th minute of 11th hour here and have you a couple of elected officials and unelected staffs behind closed doors, trying to do a back-room deal is an outrage. what harry reid should do, he should bring over to the senate, the legislation that the house has passed that extends all the current tax rates and fixes the sequestration. if that's not good enough for the senate, that's fine. allow the 100 senators to offer amendments and debate the amendments, vote on things and send it back to the house. that's the way the process

should work, not the secret, back-room deals. >> that's the framework as the leaders are behind closed doors as you said, hammering something out. when they emerged from that and you were presented with hathey did come up with -- inr if they do come up with something -- will you vote for that? will have you questions? will you filibuster? >> how would i know? how am i going to evaluate something -- even if it's minimal, it will be a serious piece of legislation -- what do i get, four hours to do that? 12 hours, 24 hours? this is an absurd process. i am a manufacturer, i am always looking for the root cause of the problem, it's the size of government. i mean, i don't talk to too many people who have great faith in the government, in terms of being effective and efficient. why are people surprised that the governing body will be more effectsive? it is not. it is utterly broken. the government's broken. we need to fix it but we need to

have public debates. one side puts a plan on the table, like the house has done, they have passed two budgets, with proposals to save medicare for future generations. senator harry reid has not passed budgets. president obama's budgets have been voted on 3 times, the final vote tally, 0-610. so getting back to your first question, have i seen a plan out of this president that would be an obvious yes from us? i haven't seen any specific plan. all i have seen is demagoguery and a few numbers thrown out, whether it's $800 billion over 10 years or $1 of revenue for $3 of spending cuts, but nothing specific that we need to see to hammer this thing out. >> he says the onus is on congress, this is your job to get done. he said in the clip we just had, if it doesn't get done, the people who are going to pay are the senior who is will lose out on benefits that they are enjoying. is that an accurate representation of what will happen? >> no! this country needs presidential

leadership. the house has passed two budgets that would spend $7 trillion less than what president obama's budgets were proposed at. again, remember president obama's budgets didn't get a vote from a member of his own party. we do need -- we know -- we understand that his balanced approach is primarily tax increases that don't begin to solve the problem. we are talking right now, even more -- most robust increase in taxes would raise maybe $75 to $80 billion. so this tax increase will take care of maybe 3 to 7% of the deficit. he has talked about a balanced approach. what is the solution for the other 93%? that's what we have to start getting our arms around. creditors around the world, at some point are going to take a look at the united states government and say, we are not going to loan you money. when the interest rates inch up, we crowd out all kinds of spending. if we revert to the average

interest rate we had from 1970 to 1999, 5.3% that, cost $600 billion per year in added interest expense. that's what we are trying to avoid with a fiscally responsible plan. >> we stand by with you and the rest of the folks on the hill to see what you get today. we wish you all the best in finding a solution. >> thank you. >> the president is blaming congress, specifically republicans in the house, republicans blame the president. who do the american people think is at fault? we have our spokesperson for the dnc and for the rnc. >> good to be with you. we be that the polling is not good for anybody in washington, when it comes to this issue. yet, the president comes to come out, polling the best of anybody involved, taking the least blame. doug, how do you swing that? >> the numbers are the republicans are in dangerous territory. you have basically, around 54,

55% of the public who say they would blame the republicans if there is no deal made. one poll i saw, cbs, had approval rating for congress, 11%. really, the president has them in the corner, arguing against tax cuts for the middle class. i think that is not where the republicans want to be. ultimately, i think they are going to have to step back. i don't know -- i doubt they will be able to do a big thing in the next two days, i think they will do a mauler package. but they are -- they're facing real voter backlash if we go over the cliff and tax cuts go up on the middle-class voters. >> we are hearing a number of lawmakers saying, i don't think it's the worst thing, senator johnson who was just with us said that he thinks it is being over dramatized, it is not the worst possible thing to go over the cliff. how do the republicans spin it if we do? >> i don't think it's how they need to spin it. i think doug is absolutely right that president obama has won on

this, i think very short-term battle with respect to the tax cuts. however, the bigger issue that we are not discussing enough, which i think this whole debate should have centered around, is not the g.o.p. tax cuts, but in fact, the spending situation. so now we are almost at the fiscal cliff, it's the end of the year. but unfortunately, shannon, we are going to turn around, the end of february, and there is a bigger issue we are going to have to deal with, in terms of the debt. so i agree, i think president obama may have won the short-term battle. but i don't think he's going to win on this -- on the debt situation because that is when there is going to be absolute no negotiation on how much -- on what spending we do. it is going to be how much spending cuts that we are going to make because we are really at the point of no return, with respect to our debt. >> when you break out some of the individual leader who is are

playing a part in this fiscal cliff negotiation, this is the latest gallup polling around christmas time. none of them faired too well. the president does the best. but we have house speaker john boehner, approval is 26% and harry reid, 34%. doug, who steps up and shows some leadership at this moment? >> well, the president's overall approval rating is pretty high, i think, he is in the mid-50s, about the highest he has been in some time. i think it's going to be, in the short term, it's mcconnell and reid. can it pass the house? that will be up to john boehner's leadership. i think that john boehner wants to get something done. he is a deal maker. but he has 80, 90, 100 members in the caucus who refuse to take yes for an answer, as the president said. so i agreew on the overall issue of the debt. i think that's why the president put forward a plan on a grand bargain to get $4 trillion in deficit reduction, but that

wouldn't have been able to pass the house. so, short term, mcconnell and reid, they are dealt makers. they have done this before. long term or over the next two, three, four week, it will be in john boehner's hands with the president doing a lot of prodding. >> i think that speaker boehner -- really it does depend on what happens in the september. but i think if they were discussing on the sunday show this is morning, if they're going to be 60% of republicans in the senate who vote for it, i absolutely think that speaker boehner is going to go along with this and so we can get this short-term deal done, put this to rest and move on to the bigger issue, which comes up the end of february. >> i think it is not necessarily speaker boehner. i think he will go along with it. i think it's his conference i. i think they will go along with it -- >> i hope so. >> i really do. >> we shall see. >> the idea is the momentum from the senate to open up opportunities in the house. >> maybe we will know, later

today. thank you. >> happy belated birthday. >> thanks! >> it is your turn at home to weigh in on the fiscalg mess. do you agree or disagree with the lawmakers who say that going over the fiscal cliff may be a good thing? tweet your answers. we will read your responses, later on in this show. fiebl funeral services for a firefighter shot and killed in upstate new york on christmas eve have just gotten underway. thousands of firefighterrings filed in on friday and saturday to pay their respe memorial services for fallen brothers. the two men were shot and killed on christmas eve, responding to a house fire, the owner had set intentionally. the suspect, william spangler, then killed himself. the second firefighter's funeral is tomorrow. a $60 billion emergency aid package for victims of super storm sandy has made it through the senate, but relief is not on the way.

the pleasure has to get through the house, where its fate is far from certain. we have more from washington. >> there are a couple of reasons why the sandy aid legislation may languish in the house. number 1, the amount of the bill, and number 2, the calendar. some conservative house lawmakers are unconferring with the $60.4 billion package passed by the senate. with the tight economic situation, they may want to scale it back or include in spending cuts to offset the cost of the legislation. here's one g.o.p. congressman from south carolina. >> we live right in hurricane alley. so i am saying this as somebody who knows tmay be me next, my district after the next hurricane. we have to pay for t. hoots the right thing to do. we cannot continue to borrow this much moan, but we don't want to pay for it out of tax money. we have to find the savings. >> but the possible holdup in

the house prompted the governors of new jersey, new york and connecticut to send a letter to lawmakers, leaning on them, writing, quote, >> house speakerrer john boehner does support some type of sandy aid, but he has not decided whether or not to bring up this bill for a vote in this session of congress, which ends on thursday. if not, the bill will expire and the next congress will have to start on it again. shannon? >> molly, thank you very much. phoenix police are searching for a suspect in yesterday's bank hostage situation. a bank employee was kidnapped on friday by an unknown man from

her home and held overnight. the man took her to the bank yesterday with a device around her neck. a bomb squad removed it and determined it was not an explosive. the suspect couldn't get access to the vault and fled the scene before other employees arrived. the fbi is working the investigation. the woman suspected of shoving a man to his death in front of a new york city subway train reportedly said she thought he was a muslim and she wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks. she has been charged with murder here as a hate crime. police arrested her yesterday after a tip. witnesses say the victim was just standing on the platform when this woman had been muttserring to herself and pushed him in front of a train. the victim was from india. unbelievable video. a dashboard camera captures a russian plane crash, skidding across the runway and crashing into a busy highway. >> the gun control debate heats

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>> the international envoy to syria warns, if a solution to the civil war isn't reached soon, as many as 100,000 syrians could do this year. 24,000 have died in the civil war, with reports surfacing that fighting has left hundreds more dead. most of the fighting habe has taken place in one city. government forces have pushed

rebels out of a key neighborhood within that city. parts of the northeast and new england are closing out 2012 with snow shovels and plows, saying up to a foot of snow fell in new england yesterday, including several inches in framingham, massachusetts. the blanket hit gillette stadium, where the patriots will take on the dolphins later today. what about the rest of the country? we go to the fox weather center with our forecast. >> reporter: hi, shannon. good to see you. we are looking at relatively quiet weather today. if you are traveling, just in time for new year's eve, in the southeast and even out west nareas we have been seeing a lot of active weather. the snow is winding down in eastern maine and also right off the lakes. so we are looking at a couple of inches of accumulation possible. the big conserve is the wind,

from boston to philadelphia. but we are talking about gusts, easily over 40 miles per hour. so keep that in mind if you are flying. it could be a bumpy ride. otherwise the winds do make it feel a lot cooler. we are looking at windchill temperatures, 6 in burlington and the teens across portions of upstate new york. >> all right. thank you very much. as we wait to see whether senate leaders make a fiscal deal. how would it fair in the house? up next, a fair and balanced dibait with dennis kucinich and phil. >> someone in portland, oregon, is having fun with the looming deadline, tapping into a road sign, changing it to read fiscal cliff ahead, january and february. no word how that road sign got hacked [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego.

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>> shannon: president obama makes a rare sunday show appearance two days before hitting the fiscam cliff and uses the time to send a stern message to congress. >> reporter: republicans have had several chances to pass a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, but they did not do so. the president seems cautiously optimistic something will happen. the president adds that --

adding that he asked the senate to come up with a deal, but that if they do not, he says he wants them to vote to extending the bush tax cuts for the middle class. positive news, concerning former president george h.w. bush. his office released a statement saying he has been moved out of the intensive care unit and into a regular patient room at methodist hospital. he was admit to the the hospital, the day after thanksgiving with bronchitis. three people are dead after a small plane crash in california. investigators say a 63-year-old man, his wife and daughter were flying from san diego to phoenix when the crash happened. the cause is under investigation. final preparations are underway for the big new year's eve celebrations in times square. organizers have tested the confet tow make sure it floats. thousands of people from around the world wrote wishes on the confety that will rain down on the crowd. don't forget to tune in at 11:00

p.m. eastern on new year's eve. those are the top stories right now. >> you are going to be off, aren't you? that's way past your bed time? >> reporter: i am going to be off and watching to make sure that the confetti that they tested actually floats, like they said. god forbid. >> shannon: we will expect your report on that next week. >> reporter: yeah. >> shannon: looking back at the shooting at the sandy hook schol as the worst day of his presidency, president obama promised to put his full weight behind new gun control legislation. debating an nra proposal to put armed guards in schools. >> i am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. i think the vast majority of the american people are skeptical that somehow is going to solve our problem. >> if you go into this capitol, you are going to be met with some armed fourses. if you go into a school house, the best solution to protect

children is to have somebody there to stop the shooter, not get everybody's gun in the country. >> shannon: a task force led by vice-president joe biden has been established to find ways to curb gun violation. lawmakers are back on capitol hill. but are they any closer to reaching an agreement, aimed at heading off a fiscal meltdown? let's ask them. we have two congressmen here. gentlemen, welcome to you both. >> good to be here. >> shannon: congressman kucinich, the spending side, do you feel there are areas where the government could cut as part of this negotiation in process? >> certainly, i have been arguing for years, we could cut spending at the pentagon. there are a lot of programs that are wasteful. we could stop the expansion of a war into the middle-east. that would save a lot of money. it is not that difficult to cut spending. the problem is that we have a manufactured crisis.

they are trying to manufacture consent for a deal that would be otherwise unacceptable. so the members of congress and the american people. i don't think many people are thinking about having to watch what is going on in congress on new year's eve. we govern 365 days a year -- or should and this is a sign that the two-party system is breaking down, can't function and can't run a government. >> shannon: congressman, it would seem that many americans agree with that, with the congressional approval rating at 18%. how did we get here? >> well, listen, shannon, i agree with my friend dennis kucinich. we can cut spending. i don't think we need to cut the department of defense by 9 percent and hollow out the military. but we cut spending. the president, i can't believe with a straight face -- i guess with practice, he can do it -- go on "meet the press" and say that the republicans have done nothing. we have had months to act. how about hr-8, which keeps the

bush-era tax cuts in place for everybody? we bassed that, i think in june. and the sequester relief act. so we didn't have the draconian cuts to the department of defense. we passed that back in may. we have been waiting for the senate to act. so to blame the congress, the houses, the only body that has acted responsibly is pretty disingenuous on the part of the president. >> reporter: congressman kucinich, you will get something back today that you can debate in the house? >> we can only hope that. but let me state something, that is that we have over 10 million americans out of work. how come this isn't being discussd? how about more taxpayers? how about putting america back to work? rebuilding the infrastructure? it is discussion, there is no discussion about getting america back to work. that is just is further proof that the system isn't working. the senate's sitting on, what?

every proppings bill right now? there is no action that has come out of it. the house has passed 7. the senate hasn't taken action. look, we have a whole appropriations process that is falling apart in the last couple of years, whether it is hyperpartisanship or outside interest groups because of buckley versus vallejo. we have a system that is not working for the american people. with people needing jobs and having to save their homes and protect their retirement and their investments, we shouldn't be in this situation. it really needs close scrutiny to ask, how did we get here? how can we make sure this kind of hijinx never happens again. >> shannon: even if you reach a deal, it will be a temporary patch. everyone knows that. there are so many other big issues, the debt ceiling, entitlement reform, tax reform, is there any way to reconfigure the way the hill is working now? because this is one of many crisis that are coming. is it always going to be at the

cliff, where the decisions are made? >> shannon, i have a great suggestion. but before that, let me commend my friend for his wisdom. he has had 16 years experience in the house, i am going to miss him when he retires after this year. but he said it exactly right. the problem, of course, with so many people unemployed -- you get these people back to work and i don't care what tax rate they're paying, it might be a lower rate, but we are going to generate revenue and that's the only way you solve the problemful you don't solve it with taxing the rich, whether you call that $250,000, $400,000, a million, you pay for the governmentay day, 4 day, 2 days, whatever. he's right. we have to get people back to work. you ask me specifically what i could have in mind, not avoiding the cliffs in the future. in regard to raising the debt ceiling, i don't think that should be done in the congress,

and i am going to propose a rules change for that effect in the house, until in any fiscal clear, you have a budget passed and you are passing every one of your appropriations bills. how do you know how much you need to borrow, if you haven't had a budget and decided how much mon you -- money you are going to intend. we get bipartisan support for that. i bet dennis would support that in the 113th congress. >> it make a lot of sense. >> shannon: we would love to leave you on agreement and kind words. congressmen, thank you both, very much. >> thank you. >> thank you, shannon. >> shannon: nice to see that. keep it here for the latest on the negotiations. we have added special live coverage. there will be a two-hour live edition of fox report, starting alt6:00 eastern. of course, we will be keeping an eye on any votes in the house and the senate as they happen. that will be followed by a live edition of "the five." how will the presidents tackle the numerous big issues facing

the u.s.? and how will that shape his legacy? douglas brinkley is next with the perspective. >> do i wish that things were more orderly in washington and rational and people... listened to the best arguments and compromised and operated in a more thoughtful and organized fashion? absolutely. but when you look at history, that's been the exception, rather than the norm. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes.

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>> shannon: descrawment new video of the moment a russian plane overshot the runway and crashed into a highway in moscow. you can see the tire hitting a car. it broke into pieces and caught fire. eight people were on board that plane. all were crew members. officials say five have died. three others are severely injured. no word on any injuries on the ground there. investigators are looking at the flight recorders and other evidence to find out what happened. on january 21, president obama will publicly celebrate his second inauguration. so what should we expect in his next term? he will have to decide where to go big and where to let go. we talk about the clues history mae provide about a second obama term.

welcome to the show. >> thank you. happy new year's to you. >> shannon: you as well. i want to ask you -- history, we have had plenty of presidents. give us a clue as to how presidents do the second time around -- are they emboldened and feeling less obligated to certain voting blocs? >> they perform differently because they don't have the burden of running for office again, in most cases. thought that twite eisenhower's second term was incredible, as was ronald reagan's. but you can see nixon's went up in flames. so there is not a golden rule to t. clinton had a good second term, by triangulating, working with the republicans. we don't see barack obama taking that stance. he is setting up his term as a firewall to the progressive movement. i represent the new deal and progressive achievements and i am going to hold this line -- meaning social security, medicare, medicaid and the entitlement programs that the democrats have fought for for

decades. >> shannon: he won't have to face the voters again. so in that case, there are a number of things he has promised, some in his first term, leftover into the second term, immigration. he says he will make that a top priority. recent events, making gun control issues a top issue for him. but he has taken a lot of heat from those who thought he didn't do enough the first time, pushing him on issues of gay marriage, the environment. which of those do you think he will give the most attention? will he feel the freedom of his firstterm nmany ways to act nonlegislatively, with executive orders and regulations? do you think he will beef up his effortings? >> you had dennis kucinich on. and the 10 million unemployed people. how do we get people employed and get jobs? there are no easy answers to that. i think this budget issue -- whatever's going to happen with the fiscal cliff, you know in the next three or four years, we

will have five or six more showdowns. so that will beleaguer the president. he needs to do break-out things in foreign affair, improving relations between the united states and china. trading relationships that are more favorable to the u.s. he may raise the specter of climate issue. it is not a good one when you are running for office. but it may look good in history, 50 years from now. trying to, you know, post sandy, how do you get your hand on working on this problem in a global way? i think you will see him use executive orders more and more. i doubt you will get the outstanding legislative second-term agend a. there is too much gridlock. he wants to get obamacare if place. he cannot afford in history to have that thwarted, his signature domestic achievement. >> shannon: we can't read their minds, how much does the legacy impact the presidents in their second term?

>> gigantic. they all read presidential biographies, that's a hobby. they start to imagine how people are going to look at them. a field that i write on, conservation. bill clinton was showed a note card, theodore roosevelt's national parks and it had another car card with bill clinton and had two. so he started to use executive orders to create all sorts of national monuments around the country. you start every field, whether it's dealing with the environment, the role of big business, we will checkmark these off. president obama has had two supreme court justices put in. probably will have a third and maybe a fourth, which means the influence of the supreme court of barack obama could be with us for generations. >> shannon: douglas brinkley, always nice to get the historical insight. thawferg. >> thanks.

>> shannon: still to come on america's news headquarters. of the: a last-ditch effort to get a deal done. the ball is in the senate's court. can the leaders there come up with a fiscal plan that the house republicans would put up to a vote? we will talk to two senators. >> could a shrimp cost you your property? the obama administration rolls out a mountain of proposed legislation, is this the epa run amok. if you shop online, brace yourself, prices could be going up. congress has its eye on an online sales tax. when you can expect to pay more for everything you buy on the internet. it with the spark miles card from capital one, thor gets great rewards for his small business! your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day!

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>> shannon: we disbin our holiday helping series, highlighting the red cross's efforts for super storm sandy victims. they have had their hands full, dealing with the largest response in 5 years. they responded to 113 large-scale disasters in more than 40 states. the organization's work is mostly done through the help of all of those amazing volunteers. now, we still hope you are in the holiday spirit, because we would like to highlight a charitable organization, working hard to make a difference and needs your help. for our last holiday helping segment, we have selected the boys & girls club of america. we have the vice-president of the boys & girls club of america and a very active member. welcome to you both. >> thank you for having us. glad to be here.

>> shannon: tell us what you are doing? >> i think it's very important. boys & girls club is one of the largest service organizations in country. we have 4,000 locations throughout the country. we serve about 4 million kids and those locations are a combination of stand-alone facility, in school, military bases and a number of locations across the country. if you are in washington, d.c., in the nation's capitol, boys & girls club is a large affiliate. here alone, we serve 16,000 at 18 locations throughout the washington area. so we are just trying to stay on top of all the things that are going on. i think our mission is very important. it's simple: to help kids of all backgrounds develop character, and build confidence. those are the kids that need it most so they can develop into productive and healthy citizens and contribute to this country. we are very, very proud of thatf

the members. >> i have been there since i was five years old. it's helping me with my career and my goal. and my career is to own three businesses. i wanted to help out my community and give back since i have got things for me. i am in keystone. we do a lot of projects. we do stuff with community. we help the homeless. we help people like -- we are going to do something for the people in connecticut. and robotics, helping me with my engineering career. it's really good. and a scholarship to help us, the kids in the program, to have a nice life in college. >> shannon: i don't know how you are managing it all. you are be very busy. that's the plan, to give them so many opportunities to experience

different things and see what is out there. >> exactly. we have a wholistic approach to dealing with our youth. there are five core area it's character and leadership development, career and education amal development, thears, health and life skills, as well as sports, fitness and recreation. at then of the day, we are on a mission to impact. we want to make sure that every kid that goes through our door, graduates from high school with a plan so thea can be productive citizens, live healthy lifestyles and make great choices, whether that's trade school, military, degree, we are doing the best we can to stay relevant and serve the kissed, as our country, as you know, america's kids near crisis, somewhat. there are over 15 million kids between the ages of 4 and 16, but between the hours of 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. who go home unsupervised. one in three children don't

graduate from high school in time. one out of three kids -- either is obese or unhealthy. so we are trying to leverage all the things we do and make a difference in those kids' lives and create a great future for kids like this. >> shannon: we know you have been doing this for nearly 150 years. keep up the great work. >> yeah. >> shannon: we will let folks know how to get involved, so if they want to be part of your mission, they can contribute to that. thank you both. >> thank you for having us. >> shannon: it was a very happy year for shandra mcdonald, she was welcomed home at hartfield jackson airport in atlanta. she was away for a full year, traveling to singapore, duby and guam. she says there are no words to describe what it feel its like to be home again. welcome home to her.

you shop online, there could be something waiting for nut new year that you won't be happy about. details on a brand-new sales tax. and senator libbedy graham has been an outspoken critic of president barack obama for years. but what is he saying today? >> if the president doesn't deal with this, he is a lousy commander in chief. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness?

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you are not only going to cut your way to prosperity. >> we have not seen the leadership on either side of the aisle to solve this problem and why would be think that we will see the leadership in the next 24 hours to solve the problem? >> shannon: the partisan blame game tens as lawmakers curry to reach a last minute deal. the president makes a rare sunday show appearance, taking republicans to task while speaker boehner responds with harsh words for mr. obama's lack of leadership. the senate is back be to work at this hour with the house not far behind. i'm he shannon bream in washington. mike emanuel joins us live from capitol hill with the latest on the debate. mike, we heard the president go after republicans in the televised interview this evening. how is that being received? >> some irritation. mitch mcconnell is actively trying to hammer out a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, negotiating with harry reid. some question about the timing of the the president's interview. speaker boehner moments ago issued this statement ,"

americans elected president obama to lead, not cast blame. the president's comments are ironic as a recurring theme of our negotiations was his unwillingness to agree he to anything that would require him to stand up to his own party ." a retiring senator says it is time to get things globe there shouldn't be lines in the sand at the 12th hour now. we ought to be willing to sit down and reach an agreement based on the proposition we don't want to hurt the economy or small business people or retirees. >> some anxiety building here on capitol hill because very little has leaked out of the talks between mcconnell and reid. some take that as a good sign and others worried about what that means, whether the negotiations have perhaps hit a snag. bottom line, we should know in a couple of hours whether they have been able to strike a deal or are still struggling,

shannon. >> shannon: how optimistic are democrats sounding. >> depends on who you ask. senator chuck sho shuman said t of the big deals come down to the final moments. he seemed cautiously optimistic. another congressman chris van hollen from maryland didn't sound quite as optimistic. >> i think it is too early to say even though we are are really only hours away from what has to be a drop dead time forgetting an agreement. right now you i would say it is about a 50/50 chance they are able to get an agreement. >> we expect the key negotiators mitch mcconnell on the republican side and harry reid on the democratic side to meet with respective senators at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon and should hear whether they feel like they have a deal or are still is struggling and perhaps have to go to president obama's plan c. shannon? >> shannon: we'll stand by. we know you are on it. mike emanuel on capitol hill.

thanks. you are now looking live at the senate floor where a session is underway. the opening prayer there now being carried out asking for are wisdom and guidance for senators as they have a lot of work potentially ahead. shortly we should have is opening remarks from the majority leader, of course, senator are harry reid and then mitch mcconnell also expected. maybe first clues as to whether or not they hammered anything out. they complete the pledge now and then it is back to business. we'll keep you updated with any development there's. we have been asking you today to give us your input on a fiscal cliff. there are some lawmakers who say going over the cliff may actually be a food thing. do you agree or disagree? alex says go over the cliff. it will be painful but it is the only way for this country to right itself. another viewer says it isn't a good thing but a rushed plan is equally bad. we are between a rock and a hard place. keep the tweets coming. tweet us at @ anhqdc or @

shannon bream. we will read more tweets through the next hour of the show. no doubt there is and will ten to be plenty of finger pointing. it appears the president is coming out ahead on the issue. in a new rasmussen poll, 44% of americans blame congressional republicans for the fiscal mess. that was the highest overall number. our own digital politics editor is here to break down political knowledge with us. good to see you. happy new year. >> happy new year and happy sunday. >> talk about the poll results. gallup and rasmussen and our own fox news polling seems the president comes out as taking the least amount of blame in the whole thing. what do republicans do with that? >> he has the bully pull pit. he is the president of the united states and he was just reelected. he will do better in this than the republicans. you pointed to the fox news poll and the top answer in the fox news poll on blame was everybody, both parties. what we often forget in

washington and this is so very true, blame is not a zero sum game especially in something like that. the reality for the president that he is contemplating right now is that if you have the largest tax increase in his tore arery coupled with the deep cuts you are going to see trouble in the economy. he does not want to take the oath of office in a fresh recession. he definitely doesn't want that. so he knows that while congress may take the blame on this narrow part of it, if things go wrong in the country he is the president and he will take the lion's share of the blame. >> shannon: it seem there's is a messaging disconnect here for republicans. democrats seem to be nailing this pretty succinctly in a way that seems to be taking hold with the average americans out there. interesting because not the fox news polling also when folks were asked the best way to deal with the country's budget problem mostly spending cuts got 57% and tax increases 20% and 8% said both. the republicans keep saying

there is a spending side to the equation that nobody is really talking about but when it is put to the american people they say by far and away that is the best option. >> whose cut is the question. should we do cuts or taxes. cuts. what are are we going to cut? not a program you like. some bad program. if you ask liberal people they say yes cut the pentagon deeply. conservative people say cut welfare programs deeply. they both agree that cuts are the way to go but wouldn't agree on what what to cut. republican ares talk about the need to reduce spending they are necessarily talking about things that people don't want to hear about. medicare and sociali car and security and it gives them an opportunity to play the scare game. >> shannon: if democrats get more is spending and more revenue which it seems they will get that eventually then people were asked in the fox news polling again where do you think the dollars going to go, all the extra money.

53% say more spending. only 36% say it is actually going to do anything to decrease the deficit. how are the two parties going to answer for that when it comes to fruition? >> they won't. remember this. just go in the way back machine and think about after the election the republicans came back to washington and said we want to give you more you call it in washington you call it revenue when you are increasing. you call it taxes when you are cutting them and they say they want to do revenue. they thought they were opening up with a concession and the president held the line and said no, only rates. it has to be tax rates. people said why the narrow i semantic idelogical argument. he wanted to push this to the end on the asims he would get the tax increase he wanted. once you get into next year the gaming, it is complicate. he knows. he figures this is his best way to get his tax increase that he

wanted all along. >> shannon: we shall see what he gets and whether anybody votes for it and what happens in the next few hours. good to see you. >> you bet. >> senator ron johnson slammed majority leader harry reid for are not making the fiscal cliff talks more transparent. he said it is outrageous they are being hammered out by a couple of elected leaders and their staff behind closed doors. he said he has yet to see any sort of detailed plan. >> have i seen a plan out of this president that would be an obvious yes from us? >> i haven't seen any specific plan. all i have seen is really demagoguery. a few numbers being thrown out. $800 billion over ten years or $1 of revenue for $3 worth of spending cuts but nothing specific and that is what we need to see if we are really going to hammer this thing out. >> shannon: is this a fair charge? has president obama and also the democrats failed to put forward a detailed plan to keep

the country from going over the fiscal cliff? fair and balanced, joining us live is senator from delaware. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you, shannon. >> s it fair to say that the democrats and the white house in particular just hasn't really laid out a plan that is legitimate, detailed and something they could vote on? >> that is fundamentally untrue. what matters to everybody watching and our country and our future is that both sides republican and democrat, house and senate, white house included have failed to pull together a comprehensive big deal that would allow us to make significant progress towards cutting our deficit is, stablizing our debt and dealing with the things we need to invest in to strengthen our economic recovery. to suggest that this is really only the democrats fault misses the point that over the last two years over a whole series of different incidents we had problems getting the senate controlled by the democrats and

the house controlled by the republicans, and the president aligned along one common vision and common plan. proposals by the president in the annual budget messages to congress. votes we have is taken up in the democratic controlled senate that have is snowplow a clear path forward. there is just a fundamentally different path taken by the house led by the republicans. even at the last hour at the last afternoon at the last weekend before this fiscal cliff it is not 100% clear to me whether house companies will choose to take up and pass a plan which i expect we will consider later today in the senate. there are enough republicans and democrats in the senate willing to vote to give comfort to give some relief to the coming tax increase to 98% of americans that i suspect we could get that deal done in the senate. my core question is whether republicans are willing to join us in doing that and reduce the potentially negative impact on our economy and on the overwhelming majority of americans. >> shannon: how do you respond

to house republicans who will say we have sent you a couple of bills and voted on something that would stop tax increases and deal with sequester and sent them to the senate where they languish and never get a vote. even if the leadership there doesn't approve of the up, voteng content of the bill on them, amend them, why hasn't that happened? >> great question. what we saw last week is that speaker boehner attempted to pass and failed to pass a bill that would have allowed the tax rates currently in force to extend for everyone earning income below a million dollars. for all income below a million dollars. and he believed he had support for that. his whip team led the work for that and they ultimately didn't even put it on the floor because it didn't have enough votes within the republican majority caucus. while they have taken up and passed and sent to the senate a bill that continues the current rates for all americans, they takes insent one that tables the core principle on which the

president ran his election campaign. he believes we should return to the clinton rates for incomes over $250,000. the deficit reduction gap returning to clinton era rates is one of the fundamental disagreements we had over and over here. there was an election and president obama campaigned principally on that point and won and i do think we ought to be willing to give on that point. do i think that house republicans have some reason to also expect commitment to spending cuts to balance that. and what disappoints moo he is that speaker boehner and the president made real progress. the president made real concessions going up to some say $400,000 in his negotiations. and speaker boehner was unwilling to give the confidence about the debt ceiling raise that he needed back for them to be able to put together the sort of bigger bolder bipartisan package that would have is done the right thing for our country. here we are at the last moment

wondering whether when we in the senate take up the house passed piece of legislation amend it and send it back to them whether they will take it up for a vote before the end of the year and prevent the overwhelming majority of americans seeing their taxes go up before january 1. >> shannon: there on the hill a lot of uncertainty as you wait to see what leaders have been hammering out. a lot of kit issues is many about the lack of transparency. is that important to you. would you be willing to sign on to whatever deal that majority leader reid comes up with? will you question your party on what they put tonight? >> i ex-about text be told in the caucus meeting where the democrats and republicans separately will meet for caucus. i expect to be told the details of the plan and not to be voting blindly on something. i scrub stand in the last hours sometimes to negotiate is package it requires that the leaders meet privately and that their aides be able tex change proposals. before we take something and vote on it on the floor we need

to understand the basic outlines of the deal reached. i'm hopeful a deal has been reached because i frankly think the consequences for the american middle class and our economy and recovery will be far worse if there is no deal for us to talk through later today in our caucus meeting. >> senator chris coons. thank your for your time. we wish you all the best. >> thank you, shannon. >> shannon: while much of the focus is on tax rates there, of course, is another major piece of the fiscal cliff puzzle that isn't getting as much attention. if sequestration kicks in the military will face billions of dollars in cuts. republican senator lindsey graham says president obama the commander in chief is the one to blame for that. peter doocy with more. >> senator graham said he got a call from the defense sect leon panetta last night and he told him that he has been told there will be nothing in the bill that is being writ ton avoid the fiscal cliff that will stop sequestration from going into

effect. so the way things stand right now, secretary panetta will need to send 800,000 layoff notices to defense contractors on tuesday. >> if the president doesn't deal with this then he is a lousy commander in chief. if there is a deal done that doesn't set aside the defense cuts because we have is already cut $489 billion out of the defense department, then i'm very disappoin disappointed ine president as commander in keefe and disappointed in the republican party for allowing this to even be a possibility because the party of ronald reagan would never let this happen. >> the sequester s a self-imposed punishment put in place when the bipartisan supercommittee couldn't come together to pick and choose $1.2 trillion worth of cuts that would have been easier to live with. now, the automatic cuts will be across-the-board and president obama's solution to soften the blow of the sequester is to

raise taxes on the rich. >> if we have raised some revenue you by wealthy paying a little bit more that would be sufficient to turn off what is called the is a questions have a better outcome for the d economy long-term. so far at least congress has not been able to get this stuff done. >> democratic congressman chris van hollen said there is a growing interest to include a short-term buydown on sequestration but it has to get figured out in the senate by the end of the day and senator graham told me he doesn't think a bipar arety san solution to the sequester is possible until february or march. >> shannon: peter doocy with the latest. this could be the last holiday season to buy online without a uniform internet sales tax. there is by partisan support on capitol hill for the marketplace fairness act which will level the playing field between brick and mortar retailers and online

competitors who often don't collect state sales taxes on your transactions. how could the change affect you? regina lewis joins us to explain. welcome. good to see you. >> tank you you. >> shannon: how do we get to this point. sort of a mish mash on which collect the sales tax and which don't. >> you had the whole online shopping thing. i'm old enough to have is covered the first amazon purchase and it was let's give them a head start and an advantage. fast forward ten plus years and now heck of a company, heck of an advantage. so if you are a major retailer, the targets, the nordstroms and macy's of the world you have an online presence as well. essentially the internet represents your biggest store are in that network. and now online retail represents overall 10% of retail. let's take a second look. they had their advantage and they have grown and now let's

collect on that. >> shannon: i remember covering the debate. there s bipartisan support. those who have come together and say it is not fair when i have a mom and pop store on main street they have to collects a sales tax but maybe people with find the same product online without paying a sales tax. >> it is a killer for mom and pop stores particularly those specialized. if you are the long time sports shop on the corner wow someone i'm making this up but hypothetically tennis warehouse .com can beat you son price because they don't collect sales tax. we heard about free shipping. nobody ever said on o the top of the website no sales tax. they saw this comeling and knew that sooner or later. they didn't want to scream it in the faces of legislators and say we are begging for it, really kind of chastising you to bring this on.

now, that moment is here. amazon has changed their position. 40% of their sales are from smaller etailers and they handle that on their behalf. they have distribution everywhere. they were are based in washington state for a reason. 98% of the country then is not subject to tax. once you have distribution centers everywhere, now all bets are off. they say we will take this on and they may even make money on it because the 40% of etailers will pay them to handle the taxes for them. >> shannon: what i discovered if you make the transactions as a consumer and you are not charged sales tax you are supposed to be reporting it on the tax return and everyone i mentiond that to heard it for the first time so this would iron that out as well. >> it is confusing for consumers. it is not based on where you are are shopping from. it is where you are shipping to. this could go through for a lot of different reasons. to help states with taxes and two, for clarity for consumers. >> good to see you.

a number of environmental regulations the federal government has in the works could impact your private property rights and wait until you hear about how it is already happening all because of this, the tiny little fairy shrimp. that is coming up. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

to recount the life of chickle. michael s one of us. he is filled with love and with life. he was a husband, father, son, brother, he was an uncle. a business owner. firefighter. and police officer all rolled

into one man. today. >> shannon: listening in live to the first of the funerals for the two firefighters who were ambushed and killed in upstate, new york, on christmas eve. the funeral the first has just gotten underway. you are are looking life at the service there. thousands of people including hundreds of fellow firefighters filed in on friday and saturday to pay respects at memorial services for their two fallen brothers. they were shot and killed on christmas eve when they responded to a house fire the owner had apparently set intentionally. the suspect william spangler then killed himself. the second firefighter's funeral is set for tomorrow. >> shannon: as time to solve the country's impending crisis ticks away there is another trend you may want to keep an eye on, the growing number of regulations proposed by the federal government. nearly 6,00 6,000 just the las0

days. how epa regulations are affecting private properties across the country. john joins us live. welcome, good to have you here today. >> great to be here, thank you. >> shannon: it all comes down to in one case a tiny fairy shrimp. what is that and how did it impact private property? >> it is a crustacean the size of an adult pinky finger nail. a heart in little creatures and grows in eggs by the billions, perhaps tens of billions on millions of acres of largely sierra,hills of the see area nevada range. it is to be found everywhere in the western united states but used by the epa and fish and wildlife service to conduct federal zoneing that impedes on the rights of private property owners, farmers, ranchers, builders and developers. >> shannon: if that is on property that you would like to

develop and you own it and want to do something with it if that little guy is there you might not be able to do it. >> if you have ponds, puddles, tire tracks, anyplace where this hearty crustacean will grow or want to put a house up or something along the lines you have to get permission from the federal government to put any sand or dirt to fill the ponds or puddles on your property in the event that you you might have this fairy shrimp there. >> shannon: i know you work with a lot of different cases and there was a situation that involved something that you would think the community would want. a medical facility that would have served seniors and alzheimer's care. what happened in that case? >> a pending case unfortunately. here we are in -- it began in 2005 and here we are 8 years later. surrounded by a major state highway and union pacific rail

linend a and a major industrial park already in place. the regulators aren't sure that is the place for a medical facility despite the fact that local authorities gave their approval. they are saying maybe this isn't the best location but if you are insist ising on building it here we need to make sure that you have no habitat here, none of the vernal pools or puddles and ponds and the like and the fish and wildlife service will issue what is called a biological opinion saying there is no threat to the habitat here and then the army corps will issue the permit that says you are allowed to proceed with your activities. fish and wildlife issues the opinion and the army corps says well, wait a second we are not sure you are ready for a permit. we have to bring in another team and make sure we don't have the presence of native american relics on the property. something they could have done 7 years ago when the permit was first requested. it is this kind of harassment of private property owners and

american citizens that engenders the distrust of regulators when we should be working together the federal government and state agencies to provide for environmental conservation and stewardship while allowing for the rights of private property owners and economic growth in tour communities. >> shannon: very tricky. of the pending regulations proposed by the federal government nearly 10% of them from the epa. we will keep an eye. keep us updated on the case. 7 years in. we want to know if the medical facility gets built. president obama makes a last minute pitch on the sunday shows for fiscal cliff deals. ed henry live at the white house with more. ed? >> the first time in over three years that the president appeared on a sunday talk show. he decided to put the onus on republicans saying that the fiscal cliff negotiations are up to them. gop leaders now say the president should stop playing the blame game. full details, coming up. the capital one cash rewards card

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>> shannon: time for a look at some of the stories making headlines today. good news for former president george h.w. bush. a family spokesman says he is improving. the 88-year-old alert and in good spirits and out of icu. mr. bush has been hospitalized since last month for a severe case of bronchitis. a judge has ordered a woman accused of pushing an indian immigrant to his death in front

of a new york city subway train to undergo a mental exam. she was charged with murder as a hate crime. she believed the victim was muslim and pushed him to get revenge for the september 11th attacks. a rare robbery attempt at a bank in phoenix. when employees arrived they found a coworker with a device fastened around her neck. the bomb squad removed it and said it was not an ex-plow is suv. the woman was taken hostage, held overnight and taken to the bank the next morning. when the is suspect couldn't get access to the vaults he ran away. mitch mcconnell just arrived on the hill. all this as president obama says he is cautiously optimistic there will be a fiscal cliff deal before the deadline but the clock is ticking and there still is no plan in sight.

ed henry is live with the latest. ed? >> top aides say the president is here at the white house getting briefed by his staff on the latest developments on the hill but you they seem a little less optimistic than they were just a couple of days ago when the president made his remarks friday. they were slightly bullish on the idea that senate leaders would put together a bipartisan deal. they are still hopeful but not seeing any movement so far. a bottom line the president decided to do his first sunday talk show in over three years. went on "meet the press" and hit the message again and again he believes the onus is on republicans to agree to tax increases and believes that is the holdup to a deal. take a list. >> i think that over the next 48 hours my hope is that people recognize that regardless of partisan differences our top priority has to be to make sure

that taxes on middle class families do not go up that would hurt our economy badly. >> now, republican leaders like speaker boehner have responded to that interview you by saying they don't think the president should be playing the blame game. instead, he should be negotiating with them to try and find a way forward here. republican ron johnson the senator from it wisconsin was on with you a little earlier and made clear that he thinks the holdup is actually the attacked that the president hasn't been willing to agree to more spending cuts. take a list. >> senator harry reid should have made sure the senate passed a budget sometime during the last three years and then that budget would be reconciled at the house and you would have a framework. we are down now to the 59th minute of the 11th hour here and you have just a couple of elected officials and unelected staffs behind closed doors trying to do some backdoor deal is an outrage quite honestly. >> deep division still between the parties. one thing both sides seem to

agree on is the fact this they don't get a deal in the next 24 hours the markets could take a major hit here and could put pressure not just on the president but congress as well, leaders of both parties to figure all of this out. time is clearly running out and if in fact all of the bush tax rates expire that would be the largest tax increase since world war ii. >> shannon: thank you very much. a windy whit sunday at the whie house. the last time congress did work between christmas and new year's was 1970. will it be successful this time around? joining us live from capitol hill is republican senator mike lee of utah. a member of the joint economic committee he. senator, thank you very much for your time today. what is the mood there? >> well, it is interesting. we are guardedly optimistic that something might happen. but what we have to keep in mind, shannon, is that even assuming that a deal happens that the point in the next 36

hours or so we will be leaving intact 99% of a dysfunctional system. 99% of a tax code that is unstable that produces an inconsistent revenue stream and has gotten us $16 trillion in debt and producing trillion dollars annual deficits. we will not be out of the woods by any means if we get a deal. it might forestall some problems but a lot of problems remain ahead of us to address. >> shannon: if you get the temporary patch, moving forward you name a number of things that need attention. tax reform. entitlement reform. the debt ceiling is come. what appetite is there for any type of cooperation on the huge issues when it seems we get to this point before even just the most minor temporary patch is ironed out. >> the more water that passes under the bridge the more are pressure from our constituents to get something done. i'm sensing a lot of appetite on the part of a lot of republicans and democrats in both houses of congress to move forward and pass a budget to

get to the point where we are getting to balance. this needs to happen. we have to remember that if we get a deal done today that will not address all of these problems. >> shannon: according to one of our chief gurus on capitol hill, one of our producers who you probably know, he just sent us an alert quoting a senate democratic aide saying we had a major setback in the past while. we still don't know whether throw the footballle be there will be something hammered on the senate side. if there isn't where do we go from there? >> we have to see how close we came and what it was that was the setback. we have to remember that any time you get into this set of circumstances and you have people on either side of the aisle trying to play political games it is not helpful and the american people as a whole will lose. that is why i was disappointed and a little surprised to hear that the president had done presizely that on "meet the press" just a couple of hours

ago. the irony in that, shannon at the exact moment it was occurring mitch mcconnell was on capitol hill working with democratic colleagues trying to eye on out a compromise. the other ironic point there is we have been asking the president to show leadership here are and asking for his involvement. i hope that he will come to the table and help us get to a deal. political games that the point don't help. >> shannon: so much of the negotiation is going on between a handful of people at this point. something that your republican colleague senator ron johnson was upset about when we talked to him in the last hour. how do you feel about that and will you be willing as a republican to step up and sign on to whatever deal if there is one reached, will you go rogue as they say as many republicans have done on the house side saying i'm not just going to go with readership -- leadership, i'm going to buck the trend. >> i will never indicate whether i'm voting for a

legislative proposal until i have seen it. i have to see it and have a chance to read it and study its ramifications before i tell you if i would vote for it or vote against it. >> would you rule out a filibuster? >> i would not rule out any option at this point. >> shannon: so moving forward then the gop is now continuing to have to deflect this argument that one that the president made again today on "meet the press" essentially that your bottom lien seems to be only about protecting wealthy americans otherwise you you would have taken something else that he has put on the table. how do you respond? >> that is odd and flatly inconsistent with what the president said just a couple of years ago. when you raise taxes on any americans in the middle of an economic downturn it hurts everyone and it will hurt the most vulnerable among us the most. i wish we had some more of those statements from the president right now. i don't understand where he is coming from when says that.

more importantly, shannon, this is hypocritical and ironic for the president who refused to push through a budget that could get even a single vote in the democratically controlled senate this year or last year. it is ironic and hypocritical already him to be saying that when hasn't even pushed through a budget. >> shannon: senator mike lee you have a lot of work ahead and we wish you the best. up next, a christian paston in iran finally freed. now, he has been thrown back behind bars and he is is not the only pastor it happened to. there is a u.s. citizen involved now. those story ares, next. [ malennouncer ] it's tt time of year again.

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to find out more, request your free decision guide. call or go online today. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. as we gather with so much work left undone guide our lawmakers with your wisdom. lord, show them the right thing to do and give them the courage to do it. >> shannon: that was the opening prayer today as the senate got back to work. you are looking live now. senator richard shelby there from alabama, a republican on the floor as they open up again for business and await word of whether the leaders have behind closed doors hammered out a deal. that was the senate chaplain barry black asking for a little devine intervention. looks like they will need it.

a democratic aide says there has been a setback and "we are further back than they were 24 hours ago." that is the latest from capitol hill. we'll keep an eye on it. we have told you the story of the iranian christian pastor jailed in iran for converting from islam to christianity. after being held for years he was released in september only to be reimprisoned on christmas day. his attorney has also been jailed and that is not all. iran is now holding an iranian born but now u.s. citizen, a pastor visiting his family in iran when was stopped by the revolutionary guard and then in prison where he has been for months. joining us is jordan seculo. thanks for coming in today. we thought that the worst was over and sounds like he is back. >> christmas day. the message arrested, summoned

back to the same prison. same prison official. got released 33 days short of a full three years in prison. he put up bond. that was in september. september 8. now, this is december 25. those days are over. he did the bond. he was on probation. no problems. been traveling around. been talking. went back to life. and then on christmas day the iranian regime shows up and says you are back in jail. would have been the first christmas he got to spend in his family in three years. his two young boys and his wife. that didn't happen. they are saying 4 days an 45 dd needed to do paper work. the attorney is in jail. we are hoping this is not going towhen you show up in an iranin jail you don't always come out and we see that time and time again. it is not a good thing at all. >> shannon: we know you will keep an eye on that and keep us update. >> absolutely. >> shannon: a second case with a christian paston again. iranian born but he is a u.s.

citizen. he was there visiting family. how can they hold him? >> 32 years old. dual citizen. family here and wife and children. and 4. both u.s. citizens as well. visiting the country, has an orphanage there. made an agreement with the intelligence police that he would not do any kind of evangelizing if he could build the orphanage. this year the iranian revolutionary guard got involved. we have seen the shift? iran. it is no longer the police who are loyal to the executive branch. these are the ones loyal to the ayatollah himself. he is in th in the toughest prn iran. they were being held there because they are more extreme than the regime itself. i talked to his wife last night who s in the united states and she said one great thing has been that he was able to communicate to his family.

he was under house arrest in tehran that since fox news reported the story they are all out of the cell except for one and the one guy is not going to beat him up. that did not happen until the story went public. good news. also is know the iranian regime knows about this because their press is talking about it. >> shannon: tell us any help from the state department or u.s. officials on this. >> this has been interesting. this is not an iranian. this is an american is citizen with the same rights as you and i do. in jail. national security crimes. a prison where a blogger got arrested in iran in october and survived four days in this prison. every day is a threat to your life. the state department said we are not going to say a lot more. the spokes woman acknowledged it. we don't say more because of the family's privacy. they are talking about it. we don't go public unless we have to shannon because someone's life is at risk. the state department has to do

more are. >> shannon: keep us updated on both of these cases. a major setback on capitol hill. things not looking good. one democratic aide saying the two sides farther apart than they were this time yesterday. the latest on the fiscal mess including how small businesses could be affected, next. >> because of the many years of experience in housing and real estate and her commitment -- so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

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>> shannon: small business owner is are paying particularly close attention to the fiscal cliff talks because any increase in taxes could drastically impac impact theirm lines. anna joins us with their take on the negotiations. >> many small business other thans hesitating to expand for fear their bottom line will suffer as the fiscal cliff looms and congress can't seem to compromise.

arthur cooper one of those. the owner of an internet marketing company. he is concerned that the change this tax rates will hurt his ability to hire. he says the uncertainty is making him run his business defensively, making decisions based on business already coming in because he can't risk losing it all. >> knowing the rules has -- is much more important than what the rules really are because then you can actually say, okay, this is what we can do and this is what our margins are going to look like and this is what we are going to be able to plan on. >> economists say one of the effects of the fiscal cliff is that businesses are now holding back on spending money whether it be investing in stock, machinery and equipment needed for the company or products they sell. and for a slowly strengthening economy, the shock of less spending could be all it takes to push the country back into a recession. >> businesses are not hiring workers now at the pace we would expect because the small businesses say we can't hire

right now until we know what the tax system is going to look like and what our tax bill is going to be in 2013. >> and shannon, economists also say the trend will decrease money in the pockets of consumers so they will have less money to put back into the economy by buying goods and services. back to you. >> shannon: we asked you if going over the fiscal cliff might be a good thing. and boy, did you respond. your answers, next. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven gets great rewards for his small business!

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well, they are a mess. a collective mess. my dear friend dr. art laper thinks we are in for rough times. my assessment of the deal. two boys in georgia decided to go into the watermelon business and bought a truck and a load of watermelons for 50 cents apiece and came back to atlanta and sold them and got to counting their money and one of them said dear lord we have to get a better truck. that is what our government is trying to do. trying to borrow their way out of debt. it is impossible. >> shannon: because we could all possibly use a laugh right now. the tongue in cheek take on the mess from larry gatlin. to watch the whole interview with larry go to fox news .com. we love hearing from you every week and we have been asking you, do you agree or disagria with the group of lawmakers who say going over the fiscal cliff may actually be a good thing. as always is you have delivered tons of answers to